A Few Good Men is a play by Aaron Sorkin, first produced on Broadway by David Brown in 1989. Sorkin adapted his work into a screenplay for a 1992 film directed by Rob Reiner, produced by Brown and starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore.
It tells the story of military lawyers at a court-martial who uncover a high-level conspiracy in the course of defending their clients, United States Marines accused of murder.
Play
Sorkin got the inspiration for the play from a phone conversation with his sister Deborah, who had graduated from Boston University Law School and signed up for a three-year stint with the Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps. She was going to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base to defend a group of Marines who came close to killing a fellow Marine in a hazing ordered by a superior officer. Sorkin took that information and wrote much of his story on cocktail napkins while bartending at the Palace Theatre on Broadway.[1]
In research, some details were also taken from the experience of novice trial lawyer Donald Marcari's first case.[2]
Once Sorkin completed a draft, his theatrical agent sent it to producer David Brown who wanted the film rights. Sorkin sold Brown the rights, getting Brown to agree to also produce A Few Good Men as a play.[3]
Premieres
A Few Good Men had its world premiere at Kennedy Center.[3][4]
The original Broadway stage production opened at the Music Box Theatre in New York on November 15, 1989 in a production directed by Don Scardino, designed by Ben Edwards, and with music by John Gromada. It starred Tom Hulce as LTJG Kaffee, Megan Gallagher as LCDR JoAnne Galloway, Stephen Lang as Col Jessep, and Robert Hogan as Capt. Matthew A. Markinson. Replacement actors included Timothy Busfield and Bradley Whitford as Kaffee, Perry King, Michael O'Hare, and Ron Perlman as Jessep, and Pamela Blair as Galloway. Joshua Malina also appeared. It ran for 497 performances.
Other performances
A national touring company performed through 1992 with Michael O'Keefe as LTJG Kaffee, Alyson Reed as LCDR Galloway, and Paul Winfield as the judge.
In January 1993 A Few Good Men had its premiere in german language at the Volkstheater, Vienna, Austria (translation: Gunther Baumann, director: Erhard Pauer, Daniel Kaffee: Alfons Haider). In the following years this production went on tour and was shown all over Germany, Switzerland and Austria (german title: Eine Frage der Ehre/A Question Of Honor).
A revival of the play starring Rob Lowe in the role of LTJG Kaffee, Suranne Jones as LCDR Galloway and John Barrowman as Lt Ross, opened at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London in late August 2005 for preview showings, followed by a three-month run in early September 2005. The stage show was directed by David Esbjornson.
Jensen Ackles appeared as LTJG Kaffee alongside Lou Diamond Phillips as Col Jessep in a production of the play at the Casa Mañana Theatre, in Fort Worth, Texas from June 5 to 10, 2007.
It has also been performed in London and Oxford by amateur groups.
Awards and nominations
The Broadway production earned Megan Gallagher a 1990 Theatre World Award and a Best Actor nomination for Tom Hulce at the 44th Tony Awards.[5]
References
- ^ "A Few Good Men London theatre tickets and information". ThisIsTheatre.com. http://www.thisistheatre.com/londonshows/afewgoodmen.html. Retrieved on 2007-01-22.
- ^ Theatre of Dare, North Carolina, "A Few Good Men - The Real Story", Accessed July 31, 2008
- ^ a b Three Days, 15 Seminars, One Great Experience by Valerie Weiss, from imaginenews.com
- ^ A Moment of Decision At the Kennedy Center - New York Times
- ^ IBDB Production Awards
